Do Medical Insurance Companies Pay Specialist Full -Time Acupuncturists?

BUPA <0171 - 656 - 2000> and PPP <01892 - 512 - 345> Do not support full-time specialist acupuncturists but only western doctors who have taken up acupuncture in their spare time and belong to the British Medical Acupuncture Society Tel: 02072 - 781 - 615 Newton House, Newton Lane, Whitley, Warrington, Cheshire, WA4 4JA Tel: 01925 730727 >And <www.medical.acupuncture.co.uk . Some of these practitioners may become more qualified as they get more interested in acupuncture but the overall picture for a patient is that BUPA's and PPP'S present policy limits your choice and may prevent you from seeing the very most dedicated and skilled acupuncturists, so if this bothers you then do not insure with BUPA and PPP unless you only want Western Medicine and certain approved complementary medicines and a limited Medical Acupuncture. A patient in my area was very annoyed that his choice was limited to only two medical acupuncturists. And I am waiting to see if his illness was healed or not. Remember that the concepts of Acupuncture are completely different from the concepts of Western Medicine.

HSA Tel : 01264 - 353 - 211 do support full-time specialist acupuncturists and are a company which ploughs back all their profits for the benefit of its members so it is a good idea to insure with them.

All these politics may change in the near future and I welcome any correspondence E-mail that will clarify this delicate situation. Remember that there are two kinds of politics:1. Patients who have been healed by an acupunctuirist and want to promote their acupuncturist can always write testimonials which can find a useful place on web sites. They can also promote by word of mouth.2. Professional bodies want to give people confidence by maintaining high standards amongst their members and promoting impressive insurance and indemnity policies , but professional bodies and insurances and indemnities need to be paid for and patients have to bear these costs. The other problem is who is sufficiently gifted that he/she is able to judge his / her fellow acupuncturists.There is a further cost leading on from these and that is the possibility of costs arising from Statutory Regulation.